Hometown basks in hero’s glow

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This article was published 15/03/2010 (5921 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RUSSELL, — "Hey, Walt." At least, that’s what it sounded like Jon Montgomery said. The greeting, tossed off as casually as a passing hello in a hardware store, was lost under a swell of cheers and screams and impromptu renditions of the Canadian anthem, sung by the estimated 6,000 people that lined Russell’s Main Street Sunday afternoon.

And as the Olympic gold medallist reached down to shake the old man’s hand before the happy fellow in his late 70s or early 80s disappeared into the huge crowd, one thing was clear: back when Montgomery, 30, was simply Russell’s "our Jon," they had greeted each other like that before, and nobody had noticed.

But now, coming home heralded by a $30,000 street party, 107 parade floats and eight blocks lined with Canadian flag-draped children and equally ecstatic parents, every word Montgomery spoke was caught by microphones, notepads and perked ears. Because he’s "our Jon" now, Canada’s Jon, an athlete who dusted off the top of the podium and hopped right into the national mythos, even gifting us with a persistent icon of victory.

That’s right, the pitcher.

At Montgomery’s Sunday homecoming, it was everywhere. One float set pint glasses on each arm of the Vancouver Olympic cauldron.

Painter Geordie Vincent, who created most of the dozens of "We love you Jon" murals that dotted Russell windows, had a pitcher of faux beer taped to the hood of his truck. "It’s mostly water," Vincent said, whipping up the soapy "head" with a paint mixer. Then, unprompted, he added something else he thought the world should know. "He’s a really good guy, you know. Just a regular, easygoing guy."

Consider this: Despite a neck laden by golden hardware, the national-hero title, and meetings with Wayne Gretzky and the prime minister, Montgomery rolled through Russell on a humble white wooden cart, accompanied by his family, girlfriend Darla and a computer printout reading simply "Congratulations, Olympic gold medallist Jon Montgomery."

As the cart stopped, fans, friends, and ol’ Walt rushed up to give high-fives. "Oh my god, we met him," squealed Amy Sahai and Manvinder Gill, both 15 and students from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg.

The two weren’t even in the SJR jazz band that serenaded the parade down Main Street, but they woke up at 4:30 a.m. anyway to make the 400-kilometre drive to Russell.

Why so pumped about meeting Montgomery? "You saw him last month after he won," Sahai said, still bouncing after shaking the hero’s hand. "He’s just not full of himself. He’s so nice. It’s been incredible to see him."

Many revellers, of course, had seen him before… quite a lot of him, in fact. "He was a little spitfire," chuckled Debra Jackson, a Russell resident who lives down the street from the Montgomery family. The last time she tried to yell "congratulations" to Jon’s parents Joan and Eldon, she said, she started crying.

"We have been pumped for weeks now," Jackson said. "It has been non-stop (since Montgomery’s gold medal win). Every time I see him on TV, it brings a tear to my eye, and we’re all like that."

Emotions can be lucrative, and across Russell, businesses were getting in on the act. At the Russell Inn’s restaurant, the kitchen served up Montgomery’s favourite sandwich, "The Monty," a tuna melt with hot sauce and havarti cheese. In its float, Kieper Honey compared itself to "liquid gold."

And as the parade left the starting gate, Jackson had sold almost 200 of Team Montgomery’s $15 "got ‘er done" T-shirts out of an art gallery. The rest were expected to vanish at the late-afternoon barbecue.

But before tucking in to some of the 7,500 hotdogs, soft drinks, and chip bags that organizers served up around warming fires, fans had to watch a parade of a different kind: that of dignitaries hoping to bask in the golden glow.

No fewer than 15 MLAs, six mayors, three reeves and one MP marched into an indoor ceremony shortly before 4 p.m. to shower what one sign called "Manitoba’s new golden boy" with accolades and appreciation.

"Nobody can go that fast, that close to the ground without being grounded," Premier Greg Selinger said of Montgomery’s affable, small-town ‘tude. Selinger awarded Montgomery The Order of The Buffalo Hunt.

Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz handed Montgomery the key to the city of Winnipeg. "You don’t want to give me the key to anything," Montgomery quipped later, "because I’ll show up."

Don’t tell that to the thousands who slipped into a snaking line stretching around the barbecue field, waiting for an hour to get the hero’s autograph; they might just send him the key to everything.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca